Battle FREE AV for absolutely clueless users? NO YEARLY SUBSCRIPTION

[Evjl's Rain]

hello, I would like to pick an AV for other people when they ask me to install an AV

I love avast free but the problem is avast does not automatically renew its license or users are most likely to ignore all messages to confirm license subscription

what I want are
- FREE AV for complete noobs, who can only open the browser, word, excel and refuse to learn everything else
- no yearly subscription system, or it can renew automatically without user's interaction
- Relatively good signatures
- as light as possible
- Good proactive features
- If the proactive features are not the best, it should be able to pair with other security tools
- no Chinese AV, please. Too many nags and traps
- I don't care about privacy thingy. I just need it to work. In my country, privacy is close to 0 and almost nobody cares. Online banking is not a frequent activity
- works on windows 7

My initial options
- Bitdefender free: not the lightest but good enough
- panda free: the lightest but it's panda
- Kaspersky free??? it has a 356-day subscription but not sure it would renew automatically
- AVG free: the last time I saw it didnt have subscription like avast free

against:
- sophos free
- Qihoo 360
- Tencend
- Mcafee
- (avast)
- MSE

 

[Sunshine-boy]

Guest Accoun

Whats the difference between Standard and guest? is Guest more secure?

 

[harlan4096]

@Sunshine-boy: unfortunately I don't have any KFA installed in any of my systems, so I can't confirm KFA will auto-renew after 365 days, but probably it will do if You register (it's free) and connects it to "My Kaspersky" service...

 

[509322]

Whats the difference between Standard and guest? is Guest more secure?

Same thing, different name. Microsoft just changed name.

 

[509322]

@Sunshine-boy: unfortunately I don't have any KFA installed in any of my systems, so I can't confirm KFA will auto-renew after 365 days, but probably it will do if You register (it's free) and connects it to "My Kaspersky" service...

What about nag screen ? Sorry, I have to ask as I have not yet tried. I don't try as I have no need of free AV.

 

[Deleted member 65228]

I would never recommend McAfee to a novice because if they want to remove it, they may have a struggling time. I've known people recently to want to remove McAfee which was pre-installed with their machine, and it was a lot of hassle for them. They would uninstall it, then find it still running with no UI present a few weeks afterwards... They would run clean-up utilities but they would always fail, the self-protection components would still be active to protect the McAfee traces and the help documentation they would run into wouldn't have proper instructions which involved Safe Mode and would work. They would just be led down a trail of cleanup utilities which wouldn't work.

I know 3 people which have had this happen to them recently, and if I hadn't have told them about Safe Mode removal, they wouldn't have done it.

McAfee need to tone it down with the aggressive pushing. If people want it then they will install it, they don't need to be badgered and pushed into renewing a subscription they never wanted in the first place, or for uninstallation procedures to be a pain in the ass 9/10. I know that Intel did own a majority of the McAfee shares but to push it for Intel systems as aggressively as it was is really ridiculous. I barely know anyone who purchased a system because McAfee was present, more because of the reduced price deals and it came packed with it.

I don't think McAfee is too bad in terms of protection because they do have dynamic protection and a cloud network, they do have many signatures and they've been in the security industry for as long as I can remember, but I don't agree with some of their ethics regarding uninstallation. It's not every-day I see such a bad uninstaller.

 

[Deleted member 65228]

I'd say Norton for a novice. They have a lot of protection mechanisms, they are extremely well known (I'd argue they are more known than Avast and Kaspersky) and have been around for as long as I can remember.

They are also pre-installed by some system manufacturers except I've found them to be less intrusive in terms of aggression for uninstallation procedures.

One thing I dislike about Norton though is regarding their additional services for backup software and what-not, I've seen this pre-packed on machines and provide notifications and it just feels like bloat unless someone truly wants it.

 

[509322]

Kaspersky free is good enough for a guy who is lazy to learn security tools. but you need to tweak it and share your config with them.I think it will renew but not sure. @harlan4096 you tell us.

Not lazy. Absolutely clueless. Has no ability or difficult for them to learn. They cannot really even deal with occasional pop-ups very well. They really cannot even deal with a fully automated solution - especially when it does something that they do not expect.

 

[harlan4096]

What about nag screen ? Sorry, I have to ask as I have not yet tried. I don't try as I have no need of free AV.

I've installed KFA in a couple of old systems from my costumers... I think there are no nag screens, but if You don't register at "My Kaspersky" service, it will prompt to register from time to time...

 

[509322]

I've installed KFA in a couple of old systems from my costumers... I think there are no nag screens, but if You don't register at "My Kaspersky" service, it will prompt to register from time to time...

Then Kaspersky FREE would be at the top of my list as long as it can run without issues on a system with 4 GB of RAM and mediocre CPU.

I guess the issue is whether a yearly re-subscription is required.

Somebody just needs to test it in a VM using low hardware specs and then just ask Kaspersky Support about the annual subscription.

 

[harlan4096]

In those old systems I just disabled the "injection" of "Kaspersky Protection" in browsers and tweaked some other security settings to make the system more responsible...

 

[Deleted member 65228]

Then Kaspersky FREE would be at the top of my list as long as it can run without issues on a system with 4 GB of RAM and mediocre CPU.

I heard that the IS version tends to be quite heavy but of course it'll differ between systems. The IS version has Application Control which makes sense if it generally is a bit heavy though since Kaspersky use the hyper-visor. (they use MSR hooks so they emulate the routine in ntoskrnl which handles system call dispatching -> overhead for every system call)

The Free version doesn't have features like that though so it must be quite lighter, I'd imagine it'd be perfect for a low-spec system.

 

[509322]

I heard that the IS version tends to be quite heavy but of course it'll differ between systems. The IS version has Application Control which makes sense if it generally is a bit heavy though since Kaspersky use the hyper-visor. (they use MSR hooks so they emulate the routine in ntoskrnl which handles system call dispatching -> overhead for every system call)

The Free version doesn't have features like that though so it must be quite lighter, I'd imagine it'd be perfect for a low-spec system.

I meant for inclusion on a list for "absolutely computer illiterate\clueless people." The types that you would never expect to progress beyond past the "I know how to plug it into the power outlet and I can find and push the power button" skill level.

 

[Evjl's Rain]

Hmmm... my first option would be Avast Free, then Kaspersky Free

Like others have said, my first priority is to get them to install uBlock Origin and configure it properly in every browser.
Once they have done that I just install Avast free. It has caused the least trouble so far and has an amazing behavior blocker.

yeah, I like avast too but as I said in the first post, avast requires yearly registration, otherwise, users will be unprotected. The guy asked me to check why his facebook wasn't working. I fixed it and also saw his avast was totally disabled and left unprotected for a while due to license expiration. He doesn't even notice it. That's bad

I have avira browser safety, uBO with many malware filters as possible, unchecky, appcheck installed, disabled windows script host. I just need a stable AV with good protection level but it doesn't seem so easy

Teach (or point them) people how to setup Guest Account. This is more valuable than installing a freeware security soft. If you can get a single user to always use a Guest Account, then you have done your job.

There is no easy answer and even with clueless people it comes down to what works best for the individual. Most people will have an easier time figuring out Avira Free than they will Bitdefender Free because most people will understand what they can see (Avira Free, old school scanner) more much than what they cannot (Bitdefender Free, hidden automated).

New users seem to like McAfee and Avira.

So perhaps make a list, give them a list, then let them decide by looking at the pictures. What else can you do past a certain point ? You can only do so much. As always, it is the user's choice, even an absolutely clueless user's.

I initially installed avira free on all computers before I moved to avast free because avira was so buggy and it had memory leak ~1.4GB. The PC was unusable until I restarted it => avira had to go

I may consider installing BD free on my own laptop to see how it works and then I will decide
I was thinking about AVG too but I'm not sure if avast will eventually merge it into avast with the stupid yearly subscription
KFA is the same. Not sure when the 365 days finish, users have to do anything to renew. If it requires other than 0 click, I can't install it
even if I can do it for them, they will be unprotected for a period of time

 

[Janl1992l]

What about comodo cloud av? Just a simple av/cloud av without registration/key ect. If u configure it right just all unknown sources get blocked and u cant do much wrong than.

 

[509322]

yeah, I like avast too but as I said in the first post, avast requires yearly registration, otherwise, users will be unprotected. The guy asked me to check why his facebook wasn't working. I fixed it and also saw his avast was totally disabled and left unprotected for a while due to license expiration. He doesn't even notice it. That's bad

I have avira browser safety, uBO with many malware filters as possible, unchecky, appcheck installed, disabled windows script host. I just need a stable AV with good protection level but it doesn't seem so easy

I initially installed avira free on all computers before I moved to avast free because avira was so buggy and it had memory leak ~1.4GB. The PC was unusable until I restarted it => avira had to go

I may consider installing BD free on my own laptop to see how it works and then I will decide
I was thinking about AVG too but I'm not sure if avast will eventually merge it into avast with the stupid yearly subscription
KFA is the same. Not sure when the 365 days finish, users have to do anything to renew. If it requires other than 0 click, I can't install it
even if I can do it for them, they will be unprotected for a period of time

These AV bugs come and go. Avira might have had a memory leak, but now it might be gone. Avira is one of the AVs that clueless users seem to gravitate towards.

I learned a long time ago try not to promote a single AV. Give people options and let people figure out what they like best. Of course with clueless users, they can hardly turn the machine on, I get that. At the end of the day, you have to let even the clueless figure stuff out for themselves. I mean if they are so utterly helpless then perhaps they should scrap their Windows PC and should migrate to Chromebook. For the helpless, they are better off with Chromebook if they can afford the switch or don't need Windows for whatever reason.

I work for AppGuard, and anyone can tell you, I do not market our product on this or any other forum. Of course I promote AppGuard however that is different than marketing the product, but it comes down to this... people should use what they like and stick with it.

 

[Evjl's Rain]

What about comodo cloud av? Just a simple av/cloud av without registration/key ect. If u configure it right just all unknown sources get blocked and u cant do much wrong than.

comodo will block all their programs then
comodo is good if the users are english speakers but if not, softwares in other languages will likely to be blocked. Myself can't even handle comodo anymore due to too many popups and whitelisting

 

[Evjl's Rain]

they are better off with Chromebook if they can afford the switch or don't need Windows for whatever reason.

I also think about chromebook but in my country, people are used to windows and windows's programs. Many of them are using windows-only softwares. It's not easy to switch unfortunately, even for me. I can't even use MacOS, linux or chromeOS because it doesn't have 1 or 2 softwares I use daily and there is no alternative

 

[gery79]

kASPERSKY ALL THE WAY , i used to be an AVG user since 2003 and i ditched it two years ago i never regret . It is very unstable it stops itself and has issues with cleaning. KAVF is almost perfect

 

[509322]

I also think about chromebook but in my country, people are used to windows and windows's programs. Many of them are using windows-only softwares. It's not easy to switch unfortunately, even for me. I can't even use MacOS, linux or chromeOS because it doesn't have 1 or 2 softwares I use daily and there is no alternative

I understand.

 

[509322]

@Evjl's Rain

A few things about Bitdefender Free based upon previous years' experience:

1. BD Free will not always move the malicious file to quarantine; it will leave it in-place and it must be manually deleted (clueless person is like "What ?").
2. During an infection BD Free will also reset browser homepage (e.g. IE to blank About) and Windows Explorer to default settings (clueless person is like "What ?" again).
2.1 BD Free just "does stuff" without explanation (clueless person is like "What ?").
3. There is little to no support for BD Free from Bitdefender.
4. BD Free doesn't get updated like it should.

Kaspersky Free would be better alternative if the subscription question is answered.

Some clueless person would love BD Free while another would love Kaspersky Free, but their systems wouldn't. LOL.